UN
Goldstone Report Council Vote Endorses Terrorism, Israel Lacks
PR
With the passing of the resolution to send the UN Goldstone
Report to New York,
those members who voted for this resolution will have blood
on their hands.
By
Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency
Jerusalem,
Israel ---- October 16, 2009 ..... A friend just asked: "Am
I the only one who feels like crying?" My response was: "we
don't have time for tears."
And so the
UN Human Rights Council in Geneva today endorsed the UN Goldstone
Report, which will now send this flawed and biased so-called human
rights report on Israel defensive war against Hamas terrorism
to the UN Security Council and the International Criminal Court.
The UN resolution
in Geneva on the Goldstone Report passed 25-6, with mostly developing
countries in favor and the United States and five European countries
opposing. Eleven Europe and African countries abstained, while
England, France and three other members of the 47-nation body
declined to vote.
The UN
Goldstone Report effectively ignores Israel basic right of
self defense. The Goldstone Report makes unsubstantiated claims
about its intent and challenges Israel's democratic values and
rule of law.
This
critical, pro-Israel YouTube content should have been circulated
before and not after the UN Goldstone Report session in
Geneva!
Israel President
Shimon Peres responded to the UN Goldstone Report saying that
it "makes a mockery of history." That the UN Goldstone
Israel Gaza War Crimes Report "does not distinguish between
the aggressor and the defender."
Respected
Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz states: "The
report gives de facto legitimacy to terrorist initiatives and
ignores the obligation and right of every country to defend itself,
as the UN itself had clearly stated."
"The
effect, if not the intent, of the UN Goldstone report will be
to keep Israel troops in the West Bank longer."
"This
UN report not only takes away the right to self-defense from democracies,
it gives this self-defense to the terrorists," says Israel
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon.
By voting
for the Goldstone Israel Gaza War Crimes Report to be moved onto
the UN in New York, those members of the United Nations who voted
for this resolution today will have blood on their hands as this
resolution directly and clearly encourages "resistance"
or terrorism against democratic states.
And these
effective and truthful soundbytes will be repeated over and over
again.
But in Israel,
we must ask ourselves one and only one question, who is to blame
for the outcome of today's vote in Geneva?
It would be
easy to point our fingers at the Arab states, Iran, Syria, Islamic
terror groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, al-Qaeda and Hezbollah.
To those Europe nations who bow down to Arab oil. And to place
responsibility with South Africa Judge Richard Goldstone for being
naive, for being used as a wooden puppet by those who seek to
destroy Israel, those who seek to destroy any chance of real peace
with the Palestinians.
And to say
that it is a numbers game, would also be correct. There are more
Muslims, more Arabs than there are Jews and Israelis.
But if we
are to believe in our own rhetoric that the UN Goldstone Report
was based on politics rather than human rights, then we must also
address Israel's failure to address the politics with the most
potent PR and public affairs professionals and NGO's who have
been placed on standby by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
since Goldstone inked his report.
Could Israel
have done more to illustrate its basic right to defend herself
against Islamic terrorism? Against over 8,000 terror missiles
launched by Hamas from Gaza, a place that Israel left 4 years
ago in an unilateral peace move?
Yes.
So what went wrong?
Without going
into great detail or logistics, without mentioning names, the
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Israel Prime Minister's
Office and the IDF critically lacks professional PR manpower.
Yes, they
have the tools. They have the capability of reaching the world
media and governmental leaders using some of the most sophisticated
Web 2.0, social networking, viral marketing and SEO tools in a
matter of minutes.
But the MFA,
the IDF and the Prime Minister's Office suffer from a cultural
Achilles' heel. Israel believes that if you have the right product,
there is no need to market it. People will come and buy. That
if we are telling the truth, that if we really are humane, people
will believe us.
This is where
we go wrong.
Yes, we have
some very professional and creative public relations and public
affairs people in government. Mark Regev, Danny Seaman, David
Saranga, Amir Gissin, Jonathan Peled, Ashley Perry, Ronit Ben-Dor
and Lt.-Col. Avital Leibowitz to mention just a few.
But these
Israel PR media professionals either lacked the manpower and or
the mandate to get the job done.
So what now?
Let's place
the responsibility where it rightfully belongs.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who made one of the
finest speeches in Israeli history this month at the UN and Israel
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
Israel lacks
professional, crisis communications PR but does not see
nor acts on this problem which has a direct effect on Jewish and
Arab life.
These two
gentlemen cannot accept today's UN Goldstone Report UNHRC vote
in Geneva. A few good soundbytes will not dismiss the ramifications
of the International Criminal Court passing future judgment on
every IDF soldier.
Netanyahu
and Lieberman must hire the finest crisis communications PR professionals
they can find and give and make a mandate that the Israel MFA,
the IDF and the Prime Minister's Office will and must follow.
As I write
this news report, the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs has senior
staff in the most sensitive international PR and public affairs
positions, staff of which have no professional experience whatsoever
in journalism, PR, media placement, branding and Web 2.0 social
networking. This lethal flaw in our government must be addressed
immediately with the same vigor that former Israel Defense Minister
Amir Peretz was dealt with as he viewed war exercises with binoculars
whose lense caps were still on.
Israel public
relations and public affairs have a direct effect on lives on
the ground. Both Jewish and Arab life.
It is time that the modern master of Israel public relations,
Benjamin Netanyahu, puts on his war uniform and secures the most
potent media weapons he can find.
Submarines,
space satellites, the Mossad and F-16's are just not enough.